A worker at a Scottish hotel has confessed to conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) in connection with a “eunuch maker” website.
This radical body modification site garnered nearly £300,000 and had 22,000 subscribers who watched videos including male genital removal, the court was informed.
The website, orchestrated by leader Marius Gustavson and other “like-minded individuals,” facilitated numerous mutilations, “to an unprecedented extent,” prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the Old Bailey on Thursday.
Ion Ciucur, 30, from Gretna, involved in this sinister operation, was one of seven people who admitted guilt as sentencing continues.
“Chief manipulator” Gustavson, from Haringey, north London, previously faced charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
The Norwegian, who had his leg amputated in February 2019 after persuading someone to freeze it, claimed £18,000 in disability benefits until 2021.
He appeared for sentencing alongside six other men, each of whom acknowledged their role in this lucrative enterprise.
This group included Peter Wates, a retired member of the Royal Society of Chemists, and Janus Atkin, a veterinary student, as disclosed in court.
The allegations involve 13 victims who are now under the care of specialist detectives.
The court heard that the conspiracy also entailed the removal and sale of body parts.
Procedures were recorded and posted on Gustavson’s “eunuch maker” website, where subscribers paid to watch, with memberships ranging from “free” to “VIP” for £100.
The practice is tied to a subculture where men seek to become “nullos,” a term for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.
Ms. Carberry KC noted that the group used “a variety of tools” for these procedures, including clamps typically used in “animal castration.”
During a Facetime call with a man in Sweden, Gustavson told him to mutilate himself by cutting off his testicles with a knife, Ms. Carberry relayed to the court.
Gustavson pressed him: “You know what to do, come on, just push it.”
Three days later, Gustavson urged him to sever his penis, the court was told.
Following one procedure, it was reported that Gustavson “cooked some testicles for lunch,” which he ate in a salad he prepared, ranging from “raw ingredients to an artfully arranged salad platter,” according to the prosecutor.
During the trial, a video showed another victim branded with the initials “EM,” for eunuch maker, on his calf.
This man later reported Gustavson and his “circle of acolytes” to the police, initiating an investigation.
In his victim impact statement, the branded man described Gustavson as a “lunatic” who operated a “slick, professional website.”
After police raids in London, Scotland, and South Wales, ten people were arrested.
Ms. Carberry revealed that police found Gustavson’s penis “in a drawer at his residence four years after it had been amputated.”
Gustavson confessed to conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child, and possession of criminal property as per Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Ion Ciucur and others from various parts of the UK also pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm.
The sentencing hearing is still underway.
